My Top 5 Books on Sports
Picks from Andrew Parker, professor of sport and Christian outreach at the University of Gloucestershire
Andrew Parker | posted 2/05/2010 10:01AM
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The Joy of Sports Endzones, Bases, Baskets, Balls, and the Consecration of the American Spirit
Michael Novak (Basic Books)
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Is sport simply a matter of play and games, or is it something more? Could sport be a form of religion or perhaps a religion in itself? Pondering these and other key questions, Novak probes the deeper meanings of sport. This is widely regarded as a classic.
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This edited collection, from one of the key players in the field, features the good and the great in sport and religion. The narrative is organized around four themes: sport as religion, sport as religious experience, religion in sport, and sport, religion, and ethics.
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An Unholy Alliance The Sacred and Modern Sports
Robert J. Higgs and Michael C. Braswell (Mercer University Press)
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Drawing on a wide range of theological and literary sources, this scholarly, thought-provoking, and highly accessible book considers such issues as pride, greed, guilt, shame, and violence.
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Playing with God Religion and Modern Sport
William J. Baker (Harvard University Press)
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This historically grounded and highly readable account sheds light on the psychological, sociological, and theological aspects of the ways in which sport and religion interact. Of particular interest are Baker's insights into the subculture of sport from Islamic, Jewish, and Buddhist perspectives.
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This is a book most notable for the broad range of ideas it offers, featuring sports psychology, sports sociology, and professional and religious ethics. The authors' attempts to define "spirituality," within the context of sport and beyond, are especially appealing.
Copyright © 2010 Christianity Today. Click for reprint information.
Related Elsewhere:
Christianity Today's cover package includes "Sports Fanatics" and responses by Mark Householder, Benjamin J. Chase, and Ted Kluck.
Previous Top 5 lists have featured parenting, Advent, life ethics, emerging movement, Islam, loss, Calvin, spiritual memoirs, neglected doctrines, spiritual memoirs, marriage, Lent, fiction books for the soul, managing your money, devotionals, how character shapes belief, food, atheism, China, presidents, world Christianity, ancient-future faith, the civil rights era, social justice, church history, popular culture, the Civil War, apologetics, atheism, and sex.
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February 2010, Vol. 54, No. 2
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